I am getting so excited to start the Winter/Spring sessions with all of you! A welcome back to all my returning students and a welcome to all my new students at Tower Hill, Tatnall, and Ursuline Academy!

Usually, I try to write a newsletter each week to let parents know what we are doing in class and any remind them of any important dates like our parties we all love. This term I’m going to ask parents and kids to visit my blog each week on my website. All the blogs will be up on the site and you will never miss a weekly update.

I’ll continue to post all the dates of the classes, keep you informed of any changes, and post pictures of our creations!  And, if your kids enjoy the kits they can purchase additional kits on the website or through me at school.

I’ll also be posting the blogs on my Facebook Page (Fascination in Fabrics).  Please visit my page and “like” my page.  Read some of the articles that I have posted or share your own article on sewing to my page.  Anything sewing related would be fantastic and probably enjoyed by all.

I’m “Sew” excited about my Website, Blog and Facebook Page!  Come visit me soon and I’ll see you next week! And please share with anyone that might be interested in the joys of sewing!

Ms. Bobbi

PS My summer camps are up on the website and are ready for kids to register!

Sewing is a learned skill. I tell my young students this fact repeatedly as I guide them through my curriculum of projects that will give them the basics of sewing and the needlearts. As one learns to sew they must have the courage to tackle new techniques knowing that the first try might not be their best but knowing that is ok! Everyone, both kids and adults, must start at the beginning of their sewing journey. Everything they do while on that journey will be a first for them as they gain patience and determination to become better sewers. As they advance in their sewing adventure, they will get better! To quote President Obama “Yes we can!” And “Yes we will!” Case in point: Bobbi’s Zipper Phobia In the adult sewing world, most of the time inserting a zipper brings terror in the hearts of many! I was one of those people. In fact, even throughout my college years I always inserted a handpicked zipper to avoid having to use the machine! It wasn’t to get extra points from my sewing professors for going that extra mile and inserting a perfect (yes, after a while it was a perfect hand-picked zipper) hand-picked zipper. No, it was because to put in a machine zipper made me crazy. Being a perfectionist, I didn’t want to fail and have it look yucky! I didn’t realize why I became so confident in inserting a hand-picked zipper because I had done so many of them! I practiced that skill and it paid off! The machine zippers in my mind were forbidden territory because in my mind I made it forbidden. I was my own worst enemy. I psyched myself into believing that I could not do it. And for many years I did not!! Later in my sewing career I would master zippers and wonder why I had looked on it as such a hard technique to master. And now as a teacher, I want my young students to be able to be fearless when they must insert a zipper! (or any other technique for that matter!) This spring my projects for the kids include sewing different types of closures among them the infamous zipper! We will insert a simple zipper and build from there. We will make sure that we understand what we need to do and take it step by step. And before we begin I will quote them some words from my dear mentor and friend Martha Pullen who told us to keep assuring our students: “There is nothing that you can do in sewing that I cannot fix if something goes wrong. And if I can’t fix it I have extra materials and notions so that we can start over and try it again!” It’s totally always a win-win situation. Do not be afraid to try, just do it and enjoy the experience. My young students will be inserting lots of zippers and other closures into their projects this spring. I’m sure we will be successful because I will show them a positive attitude and be their biggest cheerleader! Their smiles at their accomplishments will be uplifting for me as we finish each new technique. Their success will be my success and continue to make me a better teacher. Learning to sew and loving it!

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  Until next time, Miss Bobbi

Many of my young sewers were so lucky to have received a bright and shiny new sewing machine from Santa or for Hanukah this year. After asking my students about receiving a sewing machine my next question to them is “How do you like it?”

For a moment, there is silence as they stare at me. Then they blurt out “It’s still in the box!” and I am sad for them. And then I answer this exclamation with these words:

“I am so happy that you got a machine because now you can sew whenever you want. I will let your parents know that I am available to take the machine out of the box and set it up for you! We will look at the machine together with your parents so everyone will know how to thread it, use it, and take care of it. Does that sound like a plan of action?” At this point I get a smile and a nod from my student and life is good again.

So, parents please don’t let the machine sit in the box. Please get in touch with me so we can schedule a time for you and your sewers to set up your machine and learn how to use it. You can bring the machine to me or I will be glad to come to your house for the lesson. Having your very own machine is awesome! Let’s get sewing!

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Ms Bobbi

p.s. Click Here for Sewing Lesson Information

p.p.s. Click Here for Gift Certificates

 

I’m so excited! Why? Because last week 32 “Measure Me Dolls” were born in the first-grade classes at Tower Hill School in Wilmington Delaware. And Ms. Bobbi stitched each one of them with lots of love.

The “Measure Me Doll” project was started by a Tower Hill first grade teacher about 3 years ago. Jill had done the project in another school and wanted to try it at Tower Hill. We fine-tuned the project, eliminating adding birth weight to the babies and found a better pattern that looked more like real babies and we were off and running.

Each doll is the height of the student when they were born. Students choose the fabric (skin tone) and then the dolls are cut by parents and sent to me for stitching. When the dolls are returned, each class spends a day stuffing their dolls, making hair, choosing faces, decorating a onesie, putting on a diaper, and making an identifying necklace with their name for the baby.

After the babies are born, the first-grade classes spend a week doing activities relating to their births and taking care of their babies. It’s a great project and I enjoy stitching the babies every year and listening to the kids tell me stories about when they were little!

Scroll down for pictures! You can click each one to view their full size.

Until next time,

Ms. Bobbi

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Hello Friends,

This past few weeks my classes have been working on elementary hand stitches and basic machine techniques. You could say we are getting “in the groove” for sewing our next projects!

Ms Bobbi (that’s me!) purchased some of the cutest Halloween fabric from Riley Blake. Most of the fabric glows in the dark! We had a blast making Halloween pillows, Halloween candy bags, and Kleenex pouches to celebrate the season.

I started to make my own designs for my hand projects and my first kits were all tested and approved by my students. My younger sewers made my Pumpkin Pillow and my older students made my Pumpkin or Spider Pouch. Look for more, both hand and machine, as we continue through the school year!

As the holiday approaches, my focus will be on celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and any other holiday that people celebrate during this time. My students enjoy making seasonal projects and they love making gifts for family and friends to show off their new sewing skills! And Ms Bobbi loves seeing their smiles as they finish each project and realize that they made it themselves. Learning to sew and loving it!

Until next time,

Ms Bobbi

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Hello Friends, I’m finally able to offer on my website many of the kits that I use in my classes. Look for them under Ms Bobbi’s Kits of the Month in the shopping section of my website. Each kit is complete with everything you need to complete the project. If you need something that’s not in the kit like stuffing it will be clearly marked on the kit. All that’s needed is an enthusiastic sewer and a bit of creativity!

Perfect for gift giving for birthdays, holidays, or other special occasions, these sewing kits are great for building skill in both hand and machine sewing. Great for students in my classes as well as homeschoolers and teachers wanting to teach beginning sewing skills in their classes. Wonderful for Girl Scout Troops, 4-H groups, Indian Guides, and play dates! Kits are also a great addition to Makerspaces in libraries, schools, and elementary classrooms. Kits for this Month are Halloween projects.

A Pumpkin Pillow with faces to cut for my young sewers and Pumpkin or Spider Pouches for my older kids. More kits coming as I continue to add to my collection. Enjoy!

Learning to Sew and Loving it!

Dear Sewing Friends,

As I’ve told you before I spend hours each week choosing fabrics, trims, and notions so that each of my students can choose the perfect kit to stitch in class. Often many of you find it hard to choose just one kit to make and would love to sew more but there isn’t enough time in class.

I got to thinking, why don’t I make extra kits and put them on my website? You get to sew more projects and it’s easy peasy for your parents (no trip to the fabric store needed).

Whether it’s hand sewing or machine sewing everything would be included and ready for you to stitch. If it’s a project from Pinterest or the Internet I’ll send you to their site for directions. If it’s from a book, I’ll let you know the title to look for on my site. My designs can include both materials and directions. Yes, this will be so much fun!

I could make some kits with a variety of fabric, some zippers, several spools of thread, some buttons and trims and you could create your own creations! I could even put together kits personalized by you! Homeschoolers could use the kits to learn how to sew. Oh, the possibilities are endless!!!!

So, my first kits will be up at the end of this week and we’ll see how it goes. Here’s to another fun year of sewing!

See you soon,

Ms Bobbi

Hello Sewing Friends!

I’ve been really busy planning, organizing, and making kits for my classes this year! Whew, it’s a big job but totally worth it. I want all my sewing friends to have a wonderful and creative year with me stitching great projects and having fun doing it.

Our first lessons together will be a lesson on basic hand and machine sewing. For some of my friends this will be a review but for others it will be the first time they are learning about sewing. We’ll be using 2 books to help us learn these skills and I wanted to show them to you before our first class.

For hand sewing we will be using “The Amazing Stitching Handbook for Kids” by Kristin Nicholas (C&T Publishing $16.95). Lots of pictures and some great projects which we will stitch several from the book as class projects during the coming year.

 

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For machine sewing we will be using the Second Edition of “The Best Sewing Machine Fun for Kids” by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith (C&T Publishing $16.95). I have used this book in my classes for the past 12 years. The new edition has been updated with newer pictures and graphics, 37 projects and activities, and a great reference book for my students to learn how to sew.

 

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These books are on my website if you want your own copy of “The Amazing Stitching Handbook for Kids” and/or “The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids” along with lots of other kid friendly Fun Stitch Studio Books. Just go to www.fascinationinfabrics.com. Click on “Shop” and scroll down to either “Children’s Sewing Books” or click the Banner “Cool Stuff for Kids”.

See you soon!

Ms Bobbi

Hello Sewing Friends!

It’s just about time to start sewing classes with Ms Bobbi and I am just sew excited!

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This year I have 3 different classes for you:

“Sewing on the Go” is my class for my students in grades 2 through 6. I’ll have some beginners mixed in with my returning sewers. I have lots of great hand and machine projects for the coming year so be prepared to have lots of sewing fun!

My “Junior Sewing on the Go” is my class for my Kindergarten and First Graders. We’ll have sewing fun mixing a lot of different types of hand sewing projects with a bit of machine sewing here and there to get you interested in the sewing machine.

And finally, my “Sewing Sampler Class” for my 4 and 5 year olds. These students are soooo excited to learn how to sew by hand and they are so proud of everything that they sew. And you never know when a sewing machine lesson might happen in a class or two…We’ll see how goes!

Click Here for Tower Hill Class Schedules and Information

Click Here for Tatnall Class Schedules and Information

If you can’t come to my classes in the extended day programs of Tower Hill or Tatnall, just give me a call and we’ll sign you up for private or semi-private lessons in my home or yours! Everyone can join in the fun of sewing!

Learning to sew and loving it!

Ms Bobbi

I love books! All kinds of books but especially books about (you guessed it) sewing and the needle arts. I have a huge library in my office with books I have purchased from the time I was a teenager in high school. I love looking through the books in my library to get inspiration for upcoming classes or to answer a sewing question. They fill me with creativity and inspiration and they make me smile. I would not part with any of them but I am constantly looking for new books to fill my already stuffed shelves.

It is because of my love for books and my constant need to learn new sewing disciplines that I carry lots of books on my website. I really am a softie when purchasing books for Fascination in Fabrics and over the years I have gone a little overboard in my purchasing. I want to make way for more books so I am having a Blowout Book Sale on my site effective immediately! Check out the books available for only $6.95. These books are mostly from C&T and were originally $9.95 to $32.95. The sale is limited to stock on hand and can be purchased on a first come, first serve basis. Great values on a great selection of mostly quilting and craft books. Check my website now!

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Sewing books can be full of pictures and information that can really teach you a skill if you can’t take a class. They can familiarize a sewer with terminology and techniques in a variety of disciplines and they provide a ready source of information at your fingertips. And even with the web at our 24/7 disposal there is nothing like perusing a good book while sitting on the couch and sipping a drink of choice!

The web may help you find a sewing book that you are looking for or a sewing website like mine that will give you personalized service to help you find a book if they don’t carry it.  Book stores like Barnes and Noble are always adding new books to their collections. Libraries are a good source of finding sewing books and you’d be surprised how often they add to their collections. Whatever you do, always remember that there are all kinds of resources out there for you to take advantage of when you want to learn something new. Books are a great addition to any sewers stash!

Until next time,

Bobbi